He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
by remiparker
Summary: *requested* Not much of a plot for this one. Basically, Jason is injured on the way to exfil and it is up to his brothers to keep him alive until they can get proper medical help.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I know I've said this before, but I don't usually write requests. Mostly because of lack of time to put into writing something for someone else (I can be a perfectionist sometimes). The rest is due to the fact that there are *way* more talented writers out there that could produce an amazing story rather than myself. So, I am always humbled when I do get a request, though I still hope and pray the requester likes it.**

**Regardless, a request by _lanteaddicted1_ opened my muse up to the point where I couldn't push the idea aside and I had to write something. It won't be very long, but I hope you all enjoy it all the same.**

**Not much of a plot for this one. Basically, Jason is injured on the way to exfil and it is up to his brothers to keep him alive until they can get proper medical help.**

Chapter 1

"Bravo Two, how're we looking?"

_"Two to One, entrance is clear."_

"Four and Five?"

_"Back is secure."_ says Trent.

Brock adds, _"In position."_

Jason looks over his shoulder at Clay, who has taken a seat near the counter across the room. Sonny is sitting across from Hayes, stirring a cup of local coffee with a fork. Just then, the comms crack to life and Blackburn's voice comes through.

_"HAVOC base to all Bravo stations. HVT is pulling up now."_

"Copy that, HAVOC. Two, does the HVT still have two bodyguards with them?"

With him on overwatch from another building across the street, Two had a clear line of sight on the HVT when they arrived. Ray's voice comes through the comms, _"Affirmative, Bravo One. HVT is now entering building with two armed bodyguards."_

Jason sits up straighter and waits for the HVT to enter the small coffee shop. All of Bravo was on edge the moment they set foot in country, and as the time got closer to nabbing their target.

Being one of the most powerful individuals in the area did not stop their target from getting their cup of joe from a popular shop in town. The only time they were away from their heavily guarded grounds was when the shop had new flavors to try, which only happened once every few months. Intel gathered by the CIA suggested this would be the last time the woman would be in town before she moved her "business" to a yet to be discovered location. This was their only window of opportunity to nab her and they had to move quickly.

Their target entered the building, flanked by two rather large guards. She heads for the counter, heels tapping against the tile floor. Time to get the show on the road.

"All righting, Pretty Boy. You're up."

Clay grabs his coffee and heads for the exit, just at their HVT arrived at the counter. With the (faux) clumsiness of a two year old, Spenser stumbles forward and the hot drink splashes onto the woman. She yelps out of surprise and the bodyguards quickly step forward protectively between her and Clay.

Bravo Six stumbles over the proper words to use, trying to work up something of an apology, even though he knows their language well enough to hold a decent conversation. The woman scowls at him, mutters something along the lines of "stupid American tourist" and waves the guards off and she heads for the restrooms in the back.

As Clay slides some money on the counter, insisting on paying for her drink, he slinks out the front door and starts his jog around back. "Bravo Six to Four and Five. We're up."

While the others were keeping an eye on the situation in and around the building, Brock and Trent waited for the right moment to grab the woman. The back of the building was not exactly secure, seeing at the back door was often propped open for employees to take a smoke break. So while Brock kept the van running and ready, Trent slipped inside with Clay and they quickly drugged the unsuspecting woman before they bound and gagged her and none too gently tossed her into the vehicle.

Once they were in the van with the package, Brock shoots off down the alley and drove a few blocks to the pickup point for the rest of the team. It took a few minutes longer than expected as the bodyguards insisted on searching all of the customers when they realized their boss was missing. After the slight delay, Jason, Sonny and Ray climbed into the van and they begin their drive to the exfil point.

"Glad we opted for no weapons." Jason mutters as he straps his sidearm back into its rightful place. Missions done is civilian clothes always make him nervous, but none more than today. "Those guys were very… handsy."

Ray chuckles, glad he missed that. "TMI, boss."

"I've never felt more naked than-"

"For the love of God, Sonny, please do _not_ finish that sentence." Clay says. He spares a glance at their unconscious HVT, tightly secured with zip-ties, a blindfold and noise-cancelling earmuffs. "I just don't need a mental picture of… that."

Sonny smiles, "But a picture is worth a thousand words."

"I can think of only think of three. And they all have four letters."

The rest of the drive to the exfil point was much of the same. Brock drove and Trent sat up front watching for anything out of the ordinary, while the rest of the team rode in the back. The made the grab around mid-day, and the drive to exfil would take a few hours. The only thing to do to pass the time was wait.

And wait.

They were more than halfway there when the wheel jerks sharply in Brock's hands. The van jolts to the side right as a loud pop echoes in the men's ears. With the tire blown, and the road nothing more than a dirt and rock path with weeds sprouting up every few feet, it was hard for Bravo Five to keep control of the vehicle. After easing up on the gas and steering off road ever so slightly, Reynolds manages to get control of the car long enough to stop.

No one is able to question the status of their brothers as Trent shouts, "Incoming, east side!"

"Sonny, get the package. Ray and Clay guard him, make for the trees. Trent and Brock, with me." Jason says as he readies. "Go, go, go!"

Bravo One opens the door and takes aim at the force of hostiles that approached their position. Four and Five joined in, covering their brothers as they made their way to the cover of the treeline.

"Fall back, fall back!" orders Hayes. Even though they had the upper hand, their priority was getting to exfil with the package in one piece. They just couldn't engage in a shootout with the enemy for very long. Hayes had just changed out his mag when he hears the shout of "last man", then he high tails it to the thick tree cover.

Bravo runs as fast as they dare, putting more and more distance between the men who wanted their boss back and them dead. However, they couldn't run through the wooded area blind, so Hayes calls for a 20 second break and keys his comms before they continue through the foliage.

"Bravo One to HAVOC base, come in."

_"Thi… -VOC …ase."_ the connection is choppy, with static breaking up Eric's reply.

Jason tries again. "This is Bravo One to HAVOC base. Say again HAVOC, over."

Static.

Then nothing.

Shit.

Bullets begin to pepper the area around the men, but a shout effectively stops the onslaught. Unfortunately that call was not made before a bullet cut across Ray's leg as the team began running. He stumbles, caught off guard, but recovers quickly and pushes through the burning pain.

The trees begin to thin, just as the shouts of the men get closer. They are still miles from the exfil, have no form of transportation, and the enemy is right on their trail. Right when it seems all hope was lost, a building appears in the distance.

"That's gonna be the first place they look, boss." Ray knows what Jason is thinking, but they are running out of options.

While that was true, the decrepit building would give them an advantage to take up watch positions, eliminate the tangos while trying to raise HAVOC on comms so they can get the heck outta dodge. Yes, a lot can go wrong, but at least this would give them a fighting chance. Sometimes, that's all they needed.

"I know. But it's the only play we got." Jason turns to his men, makes a plan. "We'll have to take them out before they can call for backup."

"If they haven't already." says Brock over his shoulder.

"I don't think they have yet. These guys looked like her personal guards, not the army she has protecting her base." Trent brings up some information Mandy passed along in their brief and adds, "They'll try to handle things before calling in the big guns. We might have a chance if we can get them in a choke point, take 'em out at once."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." Jason wants to ask Ray how he is holding up, but there is no time to check on him. First they have to get to the building, secure it, set the trap to take out the tangos… Two's wound will just have to wait. "Let's go."

Clay takes point, expertly clears the first floor with his brothers on his six. After they shut the doors as best they could, they move to the second and third floors, doing the same thing. Soon, the all clear is given and Hayes goes over the plan.

"Okay. Son, secure the HVT in a place out of the line of fire. Spenser, I don't trust the roof's condition, so set a nest on the third floor and let me know the moment the tangos arrive on site." Jason says as he descends the stairs from the second floor to the first. "Trent, get Ray what he needs to get patched up then you and Brock guard the main entrance and main exit. Ray, I need you working on getting comms back online so we can update HAVOC on our curr-"

Without warning, there is a slow cracking in the air, sharp. The wood beneath him splinters, then dissolves like dust.

And Jason falls through the hole.

**AN: Just so you all know, I'm fairly certain every chapter will end with a cliffhanger. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks for the love so far. Please enjoy this next chapter, even though there is a cliffhanger at the end. :)**

Chapter 2

The feeling of weightlessness doesn't bother him. No, he's jumped out of planes, off of boats or other platforms countless times since he's been in the Navy. The feeling of falling was not new.

In those instances, however, he knew _how_ to land.

He knew _where_ to land.

That is not the case when Jason falls through the wooden stairs.

First comes the feeling of weightlessness. You know, "free falling", like that one 80s hit. That free falling sensation did not last long as Jason quickly meets the ground with a crash that echoed painfully in his ears, then reverberated in his body as he came to a halt. Dust is kicked up and around him, plasterers itself to his sweaty body and wet eyes. He doesn't know how long he lays there until the sound of his brother's voice breaks through his muddled brain.

Sometime after that, it takes him a few seconds to get his mouth to work. Appears the dust worked its way in there, too. He coughs, his voice cracks, but Bravo One replies, "Yeah. Yeah, I hear ya." Who he heard, he wasn't sure.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" the voice asks.

That must be Trent. Always asking the ever important medical questions. Jason tries to look around but the room is dark, only illuminated by the fading sunlight from above. Must be a basement or cellar… doesn't matter. What was the question?

"I'm okay. I'm… I'm pinned down by something." Jason finally says after thinking. Or did he space out? Did he say the words… merely think them? _Damn, this is hard._

What Hayes couldn't see from his current location is how the rest of Bravo Team is huddled around the newly formed hole in the steps. He couldn't see the worried looks on their faces as they all wonder how their leader was actually faring.

Jason wants to tell them that he's fine, that he will climb back up and meet them in a few seconds. He just needs to catch his breath first. Just real quick.

The team medic is the first to break the long thread of silence. "I need to get down there to check on him. Don't like how he sounds." Trent leans forward, looks around the room. They had no idea this room was there. They didn't see a door that led to a lower level when they cleared the building, so this area was an unknown.

Ray, effortlessly stepping into the role as 2IC, turns to his brothers. "Okay, the plan is still on. Get to your positions. Spenser, take my rifle before you set up."

"W-we can't just leave him." Clay says as he steps forward. "We gotta get him outta there."

"And we can't have tangos swarming our pos without us knowing. Trent and I will work on getting Jason out while the rest of you take watch." Rays orders. "Sonny, I need you to take over radio duty after you secure the package."

Sonny nods. "Copy that."

"But-" Clay starts, but it cut off my Ray.

"I know, Spense. Believe me, I know. But I need you topside."

"Yeah, okay. Got it." Clay knows Ray is right, except there is one small problem. He points to the crumbling remains of the stairs. "That's a no-go. Can't risk it."

Right.

After slightly alternating Jason's original plan, Brock and Clay head off for their watch locations on the first and second levels while Sonny secures their package in a closet before he sets to work on their comms connection. Ray grabs what he needs from Trent's med kit, sets to work on his leg. "How're you gonna get down there?"

Trent shrugs as he thinks. The sunlight is all but gone now and the only light he has on him isn't enough to tell him what he needs to know. From what he can tell, the lower level is about a story and a half down, so roughly fifteen feet. Give or take.

If he's right.

And if he isn't?

It's a risk to just drop in because he doesn't know what he will be landing on. Four doesn't know how far the fall is. And Bravo didn't pack any lines for this op. Without finding a door or another flight of stairs that leads into the room...

"Shortest distance is a straight line."

"Yeah, a line that may cause you or Jase more harm than good. You can't see shit down there."

"We don't have a choice here, Ray." Bravo Four slides his pack on and walks up the few steps. After making the hole larger, he swings his legs in and lowers himself down. Hoping he doesn't land on Jason, he says a quick prayer and releases his grip on the broken steps.

Sawyer lands quickly, tucking into a roll in an effort to lessen any potential damage. The only problem with tucking into a roll is Trent doesn't know where he's rolling to. And no sooner than he tucks and rolls, does he slam into a wall.

"Trent? Trent, you okay?" asks Perry from above. He heard a crash and a curse, but those few seconds without a sound was enough cause for worry. "Dammit, Trent-"

"I'm good." Bravo Four replies as he climbs to his feet. His twisted ankle tells him that his landing wasn't as great as he had hoped. He winces as he makes his way over to Jason, who hasn't spoken a single word since the medic asked how he was doing. "Jason?"

Trent steps over parts of the stairs that shattered and over to his leader. And when he arrives, his heart drops.

The medic was prepared to see Jason a little cut up after falling through the stairs. Stunned to some extent, maybe concussed, certainly bruised. When his light crosses Jason's body, his eyes go wide at the sight and he slowly begins to realize that he may not be prepared for what lies ahead.

Jason is laying on his back, slightly propped up on a pile of debris. It appears part of a shelf toppled over and fell onto his legs. He has cuts all along his bare arms and some on his face, but it is the shard of wood protruding from his right shoulder that gives Trent pause.

Just for one second.

Trent rushes forward after gathering himself and kneels down by Hayes's side. "Jason? Jase, talk to me, boss. C'mon, look at me. Jason?"

It takes a few seconds, but Jason's cracked eyes find Trent. Thankfully, Bravo One is awake and responsive, if but a little slow on aforementioned responses. "Yeah?"

"Can you tell me what you remember?" asks Trent as he removes supplies from his bag.

Jason rattles off everything that happened, starting with Bravo bagging their package to him falling through the floor. This was good, Trent notes. Means he may not have hit his head on the way down.

"Can you tell me what hurts?"

Jason thinks. "N-nothing."

_Oh... shit._ "Nothing?" Trent repeats slowly.

Jason thinks again. "Somethings on my legs… 'nd my right side is numb."

"Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna get you all squared up. Just hang on." Trent works quickly, first packing the wound on Jason's shoulder, then moving the shelf from his legs. Once Hayes was no longer pinned, Sawyer turns his attention back to the other man's injured shoulder. He places his hands on Hayes's forearm, asks, "Can you feel this?"

Jason shakes his head.

"And this?" Trent runs his fingers up and down Jason's arm again, waits for One to say he feels something-_anything_-but he remains silent.

"Did you… did you do anything?"

_Oh, fu-_

"Just a second." Trent crawls around to Jason's right side to get a better look at the wood. From what he can tell, it used to be a leg of a long table. But it is now holding One to the ground like a vise as the rest of the table is buried by other debris.

Debris he can't move by himself.

Trent runs through a long list of questions, trying to gauge where Jason was health-wise. His breathing was okay. He was alert. He wasn't light-headed. There wasn't a lot of blood on the ground, which could be good or bad. Trent had to keep the possibility of internal bleeding in mind.

The shoulder was tricky part of the body to treat, and with a piece of wood still in Jason-and with no way of removing it without raising the risk of Jason bleeding out-there was still a lot Bravo's medic didn't know. And a lot of room for things to go wrong.

"Trent, talk to me." Jason says slowly. "What is it?"

One's voice is enough to draw Four from his racing thoughts. Trent sighs, then fills Jason in. He tells them about the rest of the team, how Ray is doing with his own wound, how they had yet to establish a comms connection with HAVOC.

"Okay, good." Jason pauses. "But that isn't what I meant."

How do you tell your Team leader that they are impaled on a wooden leg? That you can't just pull them off, for fear of increased blood loss? Of something worse?

It was one of the hardest things Trent has had to do in the field since he joined up.

"Right now, I can work on keeping you stable. Once Sonny gets our comms back online, we'll come up with another plan to take care of the tangos on our tails. Exfil, medical attention, the whole nine." he says. "You just relax, let me work. Okay?"

Hayes nods, winces when doing so causes a dull pain in his neck. Trent notes this as well as he gives Jason a shot of morphine, then he checks the entrance and exit wounds again and changes the bandages and he thinks of a plan for how to remove Jason from his current vise.

Bravo Four had just finished taping fresh gauze around the exit wound when the sound of gunfire fills the air.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Obligatory cliffy warning.**

Chapter 3

His movements were getting sluggish the longer he took to secure the gauze around his leg. Ray figured that was due to blood loss, but at this point it doesn't matter. Couple that with the fact he kept peering down into the hole, silently wondering how Jason is doing… if Trent needed any help...

"Ray?"

"Hm?"

Sonny walks up on Bravo Two, quickly notes how their acting leader isn't as alert as he was when he left just a few moments ago. "You don't look so good, brother."

"I'm fine. You got an update?"

"Package is still KO'd and secure in a hall closet." Quinn takes a knee and quickly tires off the bandages around Ray's leg. "Still can't get a clear message through to HAVOC. Might end up using morse code or something at the rate we're going. Let 'em know we're up shit creek without a paddle."

"Okay. I'll take over while I wait to hear from Trent, try to get a message out. You go watch our six."

Three shakes his head. "Negative. I see those droopy eyes, Ray. You need to rest some. Ain't no telling what kinda hasty exfil we'll need to make when the time comes."

Ray relents because he knows Sonny is right, and he doesn't feel like arguing otherwise. If shit hits the fan, he'll need to be able to carry his own weight. "Fine. Keep trying. Let me know when there are any changes."

"Copy that." Sonny stands helps Ray to his feet so he can watch their exit. Before he turns and makes for his post near the package, he asks, "Any word from Trent?"

"No. I'm chalking that under 'no news is good news' for the time being." Ray mutters through breaths of pain.

Walking across the room takes him a few seconds, even though the distance isn't far. By the time he reaches the window that overlooks the back grounds, the thin sweat line across his brow had thickened.

"Bravo Five, what's your status?" Ray asks through his comms. He needed something else to keep his mind from wandering to how Jason was doing, needed something else to keep his mind off the pain in his leg.

_"Five to Two, I've got no movement on the west side."_

Perry nods, not that anyone can see. "Bravo Six?"

_"Negative from the north."_ says Clay.

The south leads to a river, but getting to it (or from it) is more trouble than it's worth. That leaves the east road-the main road-as the direction the tangos will likely come from. If they aren't too desperate to get their boss back in one piece that is.

"Copy that." he settles into his spot by the window, takes watch over the treeline. Ray didn't want to entertain the thought, but what if they got lucky?

His radio cracking to life gives him an answer. Just not the one he wanted.

_"Bravo Six to Bravo Two, I see what appears to be movement in the northwest area of the woods."_

Ray doesn't have time to reply.

_"Bravo Five to Bravo Two, I can confirm what appears to be six armed, fighting aged males in the northwest area of the woods."_

Ray can't see anything from his current pos, so he relies on his brothers to tell him what they see. "What direction are they heading towards?"

_"Appears to be the main entrance."_ says Brock.

"All of them?"

There is a lengthy pause before Bravo Five replies. _"Negative. Two broke off and are taking up positions across the east exit near the main road. Appears they are setting to breech."_

Perry curses under his breath. "Copy that. Clay remain on overwatch. Brock, I need you over here with me. Three?"

"Still can't get a clear response from HAVOC." Sonny says as he steps into view. Having heard the conversation between his brothers, he knows he needs to pick up the pace. "But I have about a six second window without static, so I should be able to get a message to them. Hope it's enough."

It has to be, Ray thinks. He comes up with a short message Sonny can send in less than six seconds, then turns his attention back to the window right as Brock appears. "Brock, what'd you see?"

"These guys packed heavy." Reynolds states as he walks into the room. "We'll take casualties if we aren't careful."

Brock doesn't say much when it comes to ops, but Ray knows that tone of voice. "What are you thinking?"

"They had to get up here somehow, right? And their compound is, what another 30 or 40 miles away? There's no guarantee that Sonny's message will get to HAVOC in time to get Jase the help he needs."

Ray raises a brow. "You want to steal one of their vehicles?"

"Yes."

"Can't. Too risky."

Brock presses, "I know. But they're likely to be parked close by. We get behind them on the way, take them out from two sides the we can get back on track to exfil and be outta here before-"

"No. That's a big gamble, Five." Ray says firmly. "And what if they brought a boat? What if you get out there in the open and there's nothing?"

"The science of deduction, Ray. I've thought about it, and using cars as a form of transportation seems to be the most logical for the situation."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"We need to get Jason out of here _before_ things go south. We can't help him if we're dead ourselves."

"And I need all of my shooters here for _when_ things go south. Which will happen sooner than later. Unless you haven't looked outside." Ray counters. Being the leader means he is forced to make some tough calls, even when his brother's make valid points. "I'm a gimp and Trent is tending to Jason whose status is still unknown. You wouldn't have backup. I can't let you leave to _possibly_ commandeer a vehicle while the rest of Bravo faces tangos that are armed to the teeth."

"But that's the best time to sne-"

"The answer is no, Brock. We take care of the threat first, then we'll work on transportation. Now, leave it." Ray stands, or rather sits, firm on his decision. If things are about to get hairy, and he has a feeling it will, he needs every able bodied man there in the fight. "I'm good here. Trent's been too quiet. Go post up by him, watch his and Jason's six."

Brock stands up a bit straighter, "Copy."

Bravo Five hadn't walked but a couple of feet when gunfire peppers the wall to his left, splintering wood and raining debris around him as he hits the deck. He crawls down the hall until he is covered by a broken cabinet and sets to return fire.

"Contact south!" Perry shouts at he seeks cover himself. Those bastards were a distraction… backup came up from the river. He asks Brock, "You good?"

"They're surrounding us!" answers Five as he returns fire, noting through a sizable hole that a few men are breaking off.

"Six, sitrep?"

The sound of gunfire is the only reply the rest of Bravo gets.

"Bravo Six?" Ray repeats. "Clay!"

Finally, the comms crack and Spenser's voice comes through. _"Six to Two. Three tangos are eliminated, but I no longer have eyes on. Repeat, I no longer have eyes on the rest of the tangos. They laid down smoke for cover."_

"Bravo Three, do you have eyes on?" Ray asks into his comms as the gunfire died down.

"That's a negative, Two." replies Sonny. After a few seconds of silence, he adds, "And now I gotta bad feelin', fellas."

Everyone knows as soon as someone comments on how things aren't how they should be, things go downhill.

Fast.

Bravo waits.

And they wait. Nothing happens. Another 47 seconds pass before Ray peers out through his window, but he sees no movement on his end. Bullets don't fly. "Clay, you see anything?"

_"No, nothing."_

Sonofabiscut.

_"...OC base to any Bravo call sign. Come in, over."_

Ray's hand is on his radio before his brain realizes what his body is doing. "Bravo Two to HAVOC base, I read you Lima Charlie."

_"Ray, thank God!"_ comes Blackburn's (anxious) reply. _"We've been trying to get a hold of you."_

"Likewise, Blackburn."

_"Ray, I need you to listen to me. We picked up chatter that the tangos on your trail aren't there to rescue their boss." _says Mandy with growing urgency._ "Her second in command has taken control of the compound and put out a hit. Those fighters are there to kill her."_

_"Be advised enemy have surrounded your current pos. QRF won't get to you before they breech." _Eric adds.

_"Six to Two, I have movement again on the north."_ Clay's voice comes through in something slightly above a whisper. _"I see what appears to be two ar-SHI-!"_

A loud crash echoed through the old building, followed by an explosion. Ray, Sonny and Brock, from their various locations in the building, all turn their attention towards the direction of the second floor.

The floor Clay is on.

No sooner then when the explosion sounds, do four more crashes follow in quick succession.

Something lands thirty feet from Sonny. Another in the hall that separated Brock and Ray. One rolls into an empty room. While the last one comes to a stop near the broken stairs.

And Jason and Trent.

Clay shouts out a warning through the comms, but by the time the words leave his mouth, four explosions have already gone off.

**AN: Life knocked me down. Then my muse stopped talking to me. I haven't forgotten about this story, don't worry, but it'll probably awhile before I can update again.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thank you all for bearing with me. Here is the final chapter of this fic. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

When Trent heard gunshots, he instinctively reached for his sidearm and aimed at the hole in the ceiling above him and Jason. The sound carried on for a few minutes, starting, then lulling into nothingness.

"Bravo Four to Bravo Two, come in." his call is met with silence, so Trent tries again. "Bravo Four to Brav-"

"The stone… its too thick. …too far away." Jason mumbles from his spot on the ground. "You should go check on 'em."

Trent hesitates to holster his weapon. The echo of gunshots hasn't started again, so eventually he does. Then Jason starts coughing up blood-just a little, but enough- the medic is moving again with regained focus. "I trust they have the situation covered. My job right now is taking care of you."

Four, after packing Jason's shoulder as best he could, turns his attention to checking the rest of his leader over. The cuts and bruises are expected, but underlying issues turn out to be hidden to the untrained eye.

At least four of Hayes's ribs are broken or fractured on either side, and Trent is 87% certain that one (or maybe two) punctured a lung. But he isn't sure which lung. Jason was breathing okay, for now. But if he didn't get proper medical help soon-

"Hm… and my job is to... take care of my team."

Sawyer sighs, looks at his leader, "Jason, I say this with the utmost respect. Shut up. But stay awake."

Jason lifts his head as much as he can, which isn't but an inch or two up from the debris beneath him. A cocky smile works its way across his mouth as he replies, "Thought medics were ...were supposed to keep their charges awake by having them talk."

Trent chuckles, shakes his head. "Not when I'm trying to listen to your lungs." which was very difficult at the moment.

For this op, Trent didn't have as much gear as he normally does. Bravo being clad in plain clothes meant he didn't have the pockets to shove multiple vials of morphine or packs of gauze in for easy access. Not even a stethoscope. And using his ears alone just wasn't enough.

All in all, making due with what he had was making keeping Jason stable a lot harder.

Sawyer doesn't know how long he worked for when gunfire broke out once more. His hand hovers over his weapon for a second, but he keeps his focus on tending to Jason.

It is the sound of the first explosion that draws him to his feet and towards the opening in the crumbled stairs. He calls for his brothers, but their names barely have time to hang in the air as four more blasts follow in quick succession.

One occurred above him, knocking him off his feet with ease. Trent lands on the ground with a pained thud, winced as debris rained down around him.

Knowing Jason was vulnerable, he scrambles to get to his boss, covers him with his body best he can as parts of the ceiling collapses around them. When the world stills momentarily, Trent takes the time to reassess their situation.

There was a large pile of debris beneath the now larger hole in the stairs. Even if they had a way to get out through that hole-which Trent didn't want to do considering the gunfire and explosions-it would cause more harm than good trying to get over the splintered wood.

On top of that, growing flames licked at the walls and ceiling, quickly filling the cellar with dark smoke. Trent coughed as the fire ate up the oxygen.

Just to his right, Jason is a mumbling mess. His condition is going downhill, and he knew it, but he didn't want Trent to die because of him.

"Trent…?"

Bravo Four picked up what One was trying to convey, shook his head and he pulled out a bandana and tied it over Hayes's face. "Save it for later, boss."

With time he thought he had no longer on the table, Trent looks around the room so anything he can use to free Jason from the table. He spots a tool chest across the room, looks through the rusty items until he spots what he needs.

Once back over to Jason's side, he kneels down and sets to work. "This is gonna hurt like a mother, but I gotta cut the leg off to get you free." he says as he positions the hand saw over the wooden leg. After Jason is free, he'll worry about finding a way out. One problem at a time.

It was slow going. The smoke got thicker, the heat from the flames more intense. Rusty teeth from the saw were breaking off, and when Trent was sure he wasn't actually cutting anything, he pulled out his own knife to finish the job.

His eyes were watering and his clothes stuck to him. Jason had gone quiet and still, which was the one thing that really pushed him to go faster. Four was no more than a centimeter away from getting through the wood when something crashing catches his attention.

The first thing he thinks is the building is finally coming down. This was it for him and Jason. Maybe his brothers, too, since he doesn't know their status. All of Bravo gone, it one fiery swoop.

This (heartbreaking) thought is replaced with hope as soon as Sonny's soot and blood covered face peers through what appears to be part of a cellar door.

"Did my best Hulk impression to get this open, so get your tails over here ASAP!" he says as he returns fire.

Trent holds his breath. Because there is hardly any air left in the smokey room, even with the hatch open and because he is so close to getting Jason free. When the wood breaks, he keeps his elation packed down and focuses on grabbing Jason, then limping/dragging/carrying them both to the door.

Everything that happened, everything Trent noticed as he hauled Jason up and into the back of a truck, was a blur.

Brock was a disheveled mess in the driver's seat.

Clay is in the front passenger's seat, hunched over slightly with a shirt tied around his eyes.

Ray is in the back, helping pull Jason in.

Sonny is laying down cover fire.

"Trent, get your ass in the truck!" Quinn's yell snaps Sawyer from his thoughts.

Happy to listen, Trent gets into the back of the vehicle, notes their package is still there, and joins Ray in laying down fire. Once Sonny was in and closed the hatch behind him, Brock lays down some smoke for their exit before peeling off down a road that probably wasn't actually a road.

Once Bravo was a safe distance away from the burning building and the enemy, Sonny gave QRF the greenlight to eliminate the smoking building while they sped towards the exfil location.

By the time Five pulled the car to a halt, Jason was unconscious. He was quickly loaded into the chopper and everyone else filed in after, eager to get out of country ASAP.

"You know I gave you a direct order, right?" Ray mutters as someone, he doesn't know who, hooks him up to an IV. "A direct order you disobeyed."

Brock dusts twigs and leaves from his hair, winces as doing so causes him to pull at the gash on the back of his shoulder. A wound that could have been avoided, had he listened to Ray's aforementioned order. "And I'll accept any punishment that comes along with it."

When they arrived back at their base of operations while in country, each SEAL was whisked off to separate rooms to get looked over before they were debriefed.

Trent sprained his ankle pretty good and was cut by debris in a few places along his arms and hands.

Sonny caught a few decent sized shards of wood in his leg as he crawled behind a wall right before the explosion, which was a miracle considering how close he was.

Ray had to have his GSW cleaned and he was given antibiotics to treat the inevitable infection that would make itself known soon enough and thankfully, the blast closest to him didn't cause any additional harm.

Brock caught a few thick piece of debris in one of the blasts that left his hip bruised, but he was also caught the wrong end of a branch when a tango interrupted him from repurposing his truck for Bravo's escape.

Clay was dealing with temporary blindness after the tangos used what had to be an LED level flash grenade before throwing non-flash grenades into the building.

And to boot, they were all dealing with varying levels of smoke inhalation.

That left Jason, who was taken straight to surgery. Or at least, what was considered "surgery" at their current location. The medics just had to get him stable enough to be flown back to the states.

Two days after they arrived back in Virginia Beach, Jason awoke to the sound of Cerberus gnawing on one of his toys. Through blurry eyes, he eventually spots the dog, who clearly is paying him no attention.

"You aren't Brock." he says when he sees Clay sitting in a chair at the end of his bed.

Clay smiles, stands and crosses the short distance, then sits on one of the rolling stools Ray occupied earlier. "No. The guys just left to stretch their legs. Cerb opted to keep me company."

"Oh, he did?" Hayes looks at the dog, who still hasn't moved or acknowledge his presence, then back to Clay when he notices something he missed the first go around. "What with the sunglasses?"

Clay fills Jason in on what he missed the last few days: he mentions his temporary blindness (how he tried to "borrow" Cerb for a few days while his eyes healed-Brock wasn't having it and instead offered to help him foster a Poodle for two weeks). Once Brock's shoulder healed, he has to clean all of Bravo's cages for two weeks as punishment for disobeying Ray's order. Ray and Sonny are healing quicker than expected (because they are good patients), whereas Trent (despite being Bravo's medic) is healing slowly (because he is not as good a patient as he is a medic).

"Sounds like I missed a lot." Jason looks at the thick bandages on his shoulder, does everything he can to not move too much. "Thanks, kid."

"That reminds me," Clay grabs a cup of pudding that Jason wasn't going to eat (because he didn't know there was pudding to begin with). "Can we drop the 'kid' nickname now?"

His request fell on deaf ears, as Jason was already asleep.

FIN

**AN: So, my muse is talking to me now. But I go back to university next week. I didn't get to near as many fics this summer as I had thought I would, but while my posting will be few and far between, I will def work on finishing some stories for you all while we wait for our boys to return. Thanks again and til next time!**


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